I don’t think any of these ideologues really care about the people they claim to care about, or they would do things quite differently. I have asked many Elect that I encounter what do they do to help the black community besides evangelizing. I always get the same type of answer. Something along the lines of “after the rapture” (everyone recognizing their racism) they will begin helping them directly. Sort of like the “indefinite postponement” concept from Kafka’s famous book “the trial”
I agree 100% with that. Minorities are often the subject of political games that end up keeping them there. Not to mention the little power that minorities have to bring true change. They end up with ersatz movements like this
Great piece. Thanks for last week's heads-up about its upcoming publication!
McWhorter rightly points out the flaws in this ideology. It's always quite satisfying to read his thoughts on the topic. Unfortunately, this same dynamic extends to all of said religion's sacred cows, and is little more than a widespread collective case of Munchausen by Proxy (now also known as “Factitious disorder imposed on another”). Indeed, “the Elect presents the case as if victimization should be the most fundamental and central part of _______ lives,” and “the ideology in question is one under which _______ people calling themselves our saviors make _______ look like the dumbest, weakest, most self-indulgent human beings in the history of our species and teach [them] to revel in that status and cherish it as making [them] special.”
There's something very, very twisted about the expectation that any reasonable individual should easily accept a (reductive, if not outright false) victim narrative imposed upon them from the top down, and make it a cornerstone of their identity at their in-group's request. This is no path to empowerment—it's an insidious, socially sanctioned violation of people's right to self-determination.
Need to ruminate on this some more but first impression is, well,
grateful to see true intellectual analysis of our fractured present social coherence. I posted this article to my FB feed as I think it is vital that we all stop giving the Elect the authority to dictate ANYTHING.
I’m still ruminating and absorbing it. The book contains wide range of thought about the movement. Some people seem become Elect sort of by attrition, others seem to grasp it with both hands.
It was fascinating to hear him on a panel. I was sitting in the audience and ordered the book right then and there. The book did not disappoint.
Well he is pretty astute and a new person to listen to. Thank you for bringing this man’s wisdom to my attention.
I don’t know much about you either but I’m paying attention now. There is a gaping shortage of courage in every avenue of society and many ppl might shun you for bringing this to light.
The pushback is gaining momentum. May the odds be ever in our favor.
There are two other aspects of Wokeness that are often not discussed, and I wonder if McWhorter brings them up.
1. How Africa's state reflects on views that others (not just Whites but other non-Blacks) have toward Blacks in America. I cannot count the number of times I have seen sarcastic jokes and digs on comment forms referring to Africa seeming "backwardness." And, as a White person I can tell you that I hear people refer to and make conclusions based on how they perceive the functionality of African states. (First World Vs Third World).
When one starts by asking the question: "Why are so many-Black or mostly-Black nations so poor?" it can lead you into a direction that will directly contradict the Woke ideology. And I'm not talking about some dumb "IQ and Race" argument. I'm talking about the Woke prohibition against all conspiracy theories as "Right Wing." An honest examination of why so much of Africa has remained poor after Europe left also will lead you into some solutions that will cause you to cross Wokeness' red line on "climate change." Because, to ask why Black Africa remains so poor involves a lot of research that will inevitably reveal a vast financial machinery, mostly driven by European oligarchs and banks, directed from the top, such as the IMF, that prevent Africans from building a viable industrial economy. But, besides that, there is a Regime Change Inc machine, run by Democrats and NeoCons, that destroys any African regimes that try and break out of this economic straight jacket. Libya was a perfect case in point, when Hillary Clinton laughed about the takedown of Gaddafi. Libya's destruction at the hands of NATO further led to a chain reaction of radical terroristic elements, mostly backed by Qatar (another Western ally) into destabilizing other African countries nearby such as Mali. Ironically, by becoming zealous shills for anything and everything Mainstream, and shills for NATO, the Woke people have become zealous advocates for Africa's destruction.
Africa's continued poverty despite it being the richest continent in terms of mineral resources then becomes fodder for Racists' arguments.
Let me ask a question: If Nigerian-made cars were on our streets competing with Japanese-made cars and German-made cars, and if high speed rail and maglev flowed across the Sahel and through Congo, and the life expectancies of the average African were on par with the West and China, and Ghana had their own rocket programs sending Ghanaian astronauts into space...If Africa were First World...in other words, would there be jokes about Black inferiority posted online constantly? Nope! Whites would just naturally, without having to do any Woke self-flagellation, would just come to see Blacks, naturally, as equal to themselves. Their attitudes toward Blacks would change just as they already have with regard to Asians. Development is self-evident...the "proof is in the pudding" as they say. There would be no question.
But because there is this machinery of finance and regime change and austerity and coups constantly put against African nations kicking them when they're down, so they can never get up, the racist jokes and narratives still persist. So Woke has to do by force what would have come naturally, if Africa had been ALLOWED to develop!
And this force only further reinforces to people the idea that "maybe Racism is true and correct and that's why they have to suppress racism so hard." Bullshit. What the truth is the situation has been manipulated artificially so as to appear "organic."
But once one starts to dig under the surface of Neocolonialism, DeGrowth ideology, and Financial Oligarchy, they soon begin to land in the territory of "Conspiracy Theorist" and get vilified by Woke Inc, who is zealous for defending whatever comes out of CNN or the New York Times. People inevitably learn what Lyndon LaRouche Jr figured out long ago, and become pariahs just like he did.
Oh...and by the way, there IS a Nigerian owned Car manufacturer. It's called Innoson Vehicles. Look it up. But I was doing some research online one day and saw entries of Nigerians complaining about the lack of support by Nigeria's govt for Nigeria's own industries...Nigerian govt ministers buying Pugeot and Mercedes, for example, instead of Innoson. "Why won't Nigeria support its own industry?" the questions asked. But then an article in Pan African Review, a Rwandan-based media outlet, explained that Nigeria's president, Tinubu, attends Chatham House, one of the highest British think tanks in the world, and the parent agency behind the Council On Foreign Relations. I think the article was titled something like: "Nigeria remains a captured nation."
There's your answer. And Ruto of Kenya, another puppet of the West, taxing locally-made Kenyan goods in order to service the IMF debt. There's your answer. Many of Africa's leaders are handpicked puppets of the Western oligarchs. And as soon as anybody tries to take power that bucks this trend and tries to do something for Africa, they get coup'ed and regime-change-color-revolutioned or vilified (Gaddafi, Mugabe, the current coup leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger), Lumumba, Mubarak...the list goes on. Abiy Ahmed.
You mean the author of the book? I was not aware of it until the attempted assassination. I saw people pounding him with messages about it. I don’t really follow him, though.
I simply can't tolerate or accept anyone's use of the 'term' Woke or Wokeness or Wokism. It's a trigger word and I don't trust anyone that uses trigger words in or as titles or in speech.
This is why: {Like phrases before it - such as “politically correct”, “social justice warrior” and “cancel culture” - “woke” has become a toxicised term used by alt-right and politically conservative groups to insult people on the left.
“People who are woke simply can’t use the word anymore,” explained Mr Thorne. “It’s been appropriated, co-opted and toxicised by the alt-right and right-wing speakers. Those who are woke can still talk about empathy and compassion and social justice, but I think they’ve had to abandon the neat, snappy slang words and go back to explaining what they really believe.”} clipped this from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woke-meaning-word-history-b1790787.html.
I would add "liberal" to this list as well. Have you run across the 1970s/1980s derision "Bleeding heart liberal" as well as other derisive sentences with "liberal" as it's subject or is it object? (I've forgotten my sentence structure lessons) The corruption of the term worked as intended. Nobody wanted to be known or called a "liberal". Hey, we could have fun listing all the words that were corrupted for political reasons in our lifetimes.
I'm all for explaining in as many words as one needs to say what they want to say. Slang is just slang and not only to me, but a lot of adults who were taught to not use slang and not respect the use of slang.
I contend that this holds true across the entire landscape of oppressed/marginalized groups. Identity Politics is doing a huge disservice to everyone, especially the very real victims of our society's prejudices.
Thanks for this super interesting post. My son constantly tries to explain woke-ism to me, and I don't get it. This explainer helped, and maybe I'll read John McWhorter's book.
I wonder if woke-ism's narrow and mean spirited spin on social justice is contributing to the rise in fascism. I've heard people say crappy things about social justice lately, and I wonder if that's what they're basing their comments on.
What surprises me is that people are believing this stuff. Are they intellectually lazy? Or does it just conform so conveniently to the kind of Christianity so many people were raised with -- we're all heathens, the fall, the redemption, the rescuers, etc.
People wanting a better, kinder more habitable world need to get past this stuff that I consider intellectual garbage. It sounds like woke-ism is making a mockery of these important values, and it's important that we don't let it.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with social justice movements. What Woke has turned into is an authoritarian type movement. They operate by intimidation, not by education. It’s tyrannical for the average person working in a university or on social media. The slightest slip and your career can be destroyed. I’ve seen it happen. Groupthink sets and they seek blood.
McWhorter is pretty amazing. Great writer, speaker and a down to earth person to talk to.
I didn't mean that John McWhorter is narrow and mean-spirited. I was referring to woke-ism being that way. I've changed my comment to make that more clear. Sorry if I didn't communicate that well.
Ananda, what a well written, thoughtful response.
I don’t think any of these ideologues really care about the people they claim to care about, or they would do things quite differently. I have asked many Elect that I encounter what do they do to help the black community besides evangelizing. I always get the same type of answer. Something along the lines of “after the rapture” (everyone recognizing their racism) they will begin helping them directly. Sort of like the “indefinite postponement” concept from Kafka’s famous book “the trial”
I agree 100% with that. Minorities are often the subject of political games that end up keeping them there. Not to mention the little power that minorities have to bring true change. They end up with ersatz movements like this
Great piece. Thanks for last week's heads-up about its upcoming publication!
McWhorter rightly points out the flaws in this ideology. It's always quite satisfying to read his thoughts on the topic. Unfortunately, this same dynamic extends to all of said religion's sacred cows, and is little more than a widespread collective case of Munchausen by Proxy (now also known as “Factitious disorder imposed on another”). Indeed, “the Elect presents the case as if victimization should be the most fundamental and central part of _______ lives,” and “the ideology in question is one under which _______ people calling themselves our saviors make _______ look like the dumbest, weakest, most self-indulgent human beings in the history of our species and teach [them] to revel in that status and cherish it as making [them] special.”
There's something very, very twisted about the expectation that any reasonable individual should easily accept a (reductive, if not outright false) victim narrative imposed upon them from the top down, and make it a cornerstone of their identity at their in-group's request. This is no path to empowerment—it's an insidious, socially sanctioned violation of people's right to self-determination.
Very interesting. Worthy of further inquiry. Thank you for the review!
I am an elderly white boy from a farm in Ohio whose parents taught him to respect all people.
I agree with all three planks Professor McWhorter proposes.
End the war on drugs.
Teach children how to read properly.
Though I would say
Advance vocational training for anyone who is not interested in college.
My general responses are:
How do we move off the drug war posture to a rehab posture?
Yes, phonics should be the best approach and should be taught in most all schools, but are there political reasons why black schools are underfunded?
Support vocational training, and retraining (education)
And yes there are radicals on both ends of the politico-social system.
Thanks for a good read and I get the message.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
Need to ruminate on this some more but first impression is, well,
grateful to see true intellectual analysis of our fractured present social coherence. I posted this article to my FB feed as I think it is vital that we all stop giving the Elect the authority to dictate ANYTHING.
I’m still ruminating and absorbing it. The book contains wide range of thought about the movement. Some people seem become Elect sort of by attrition, others seem to grasp it with both hands.
It was fascinating to hear him on a panel. I was sitting in the audience and ordered the book right then and there. The book did not disappoint.
Well he is pretty astute and a new person to listen to. Thank you for bringing this man’s wisdom to my attention.
I don’t know much about you either but I’m paying attention now. There is a gaping shortage of courage in every avenue of society and many ppl might shun you for bringing this to light.
The pushback is gaining momentum. May the odds be ever in our favor.
Thank you for those kind words. I’m grateful that you subscribed.
The other day, some talking head on MSNBC said the reason she didn’t report on Biden’s cognitive decline was that it would anger her base.
In that case, she is not a journalist. Journalists are morally bound to report the truth. I plan to continue writing controversial articles.
Please do.
If you fix the problem, then what is the point of the new religion?
Explain a little more what you mean.
If racism were to disappear today, the priests and apostles of the new religion would have to get other, presumably more taxing work.
Oh they will do what other movements do when they accomplish their goals. They look for more extreme things to do.
By individualizing systemic racism, the system is let off the hook. Cheap sentiment is less expensive than proper school funding.
There are two other aspects of Wokeness that are often not discussed, and I wonder if McWhorter brings them up.
1. How Africa's state reflects on views that others (not just Whites but other non-Blacks) have toward Blacks in America. I cannot count the number of times I have seen sarcastic jokes and digs on comment forms referring to Africa seeming "backwardness." And, as a White person I can tell you that I hear people refer to and make conclusions based on how they perceive the functionality of African states. (First World Vs Third World).
When one starts by asking the question: "Why are so many-Black or mostly-Black nations so poor?" it can lead you into a direction that will directly contradict the Woke ideology. And I'm not talking about some dumb "IQ and Race" argument. I'm talking about the Woke prohibition against all conspiracy theories as "Right Wing." An honest examination of why so much of Africa has remained poor after Europe left also will lead you into some solutions that will cause you to cross Wokeness' red line on "climate change." Because, to ask why Black Africa remains so poor involves a lot of research that will inevitably reveal a vast financial machinery, mostly driven by European oligarchs and banks, directed from the top, such as the IMF, that prevent Africans from building a viable industrial economy. But, besides that, there is a Regime Change Inc machine, run by Democrats and NeoCons, that destroys any African regimes that try and break out of this economic straight jacket. Libya was a perfect case in point, when Hillary Clinton laughed about the takedown of Gaddafi. Libya's destruction at the hands of NATO further led to a chain reaction of radical terroristic elements, mostly backed by Qatar (another Western ally) into destabilizing other African countries nearby such as Mali. Ironically, by becoming zealous shills for anything and everything Mainstream, and shills for NATO, the Woke people have become zealous advocates for Africa's destruction.
Africa's continued poverty despite it being the richest continent in terms of mineral resources then becomes fodder for Racists' arguments.
Let me ask a question: If Nigerian-made cars were on our streets competing with Japanese-made cars and German-made cars, and if high speed rail and maglev flowed across the Sahel and through Congo, and the life expectancies of the average African were on par with the West and China, and Ghana had their own rocket programs sending Ghanaian astronauts into space...If Africa were First World...in other words, would there be jokes about Black inferiority posted online constantly? Nope! Whites would just naturally, without having to do any Woke self-flagellation, would just come to see Blacks, naturally, as equal to themselves. Their attitudes toward Blacks would change just as they already have with regard to Asians. Development is self-evident...the "proof is in the pudding" as they say. There would be no question.
But because there is this machinery of finance and regime change and austerity and coups constantly put against African nations kicking them when they're down, so they can never get up, the racist jokes and narratives still persist. So Woke has to do by force what would have come naturally, if Africa had been ALLOWED to develop!
And this force only further reinforces to people the idea that "maybe Racism is true and correct and that's why they have to suppress racism so hard." Bullshit. What the truth is the situation has been manipulated artificially so as to appear "organic."
But once one starts to dig under the surface of Neocolonialism, DeGrowth ideology, and Financial Oligarchy, they soon begin to land in the territory of "Conspiracy Theorist" and get vilified by Woke Inc, who is zealous for defending whatever comes out of CNN or the New York Times. People inevitably learn what Lyndon LaRouche Jr figured out long ago, and become pariahs just like he did.
Oh...and by the way, there IS a Nigerian owned Car manufacturer. It's called Innoson Vehicles. Look it up. But I was doing some research online one day and saw entries of Nigerians complaining about the lack of support by Nigeria's govt for Nigeria's own industries...Nigerian govt ministers buying Pugeot and Mercedes, for example, instead of Innoson. "Why won't Nigeria support its own industry?" the questions asked. But then an article in Pan African Review, a Rwandan-based media outlet, explained that Nigeria's president, Tinubu, attends Chatham House, one of the highest British think tanks in the world, and the parent agency behind the Council On Foreign Relations. I think the article was titled something like: "Nigeria remains a captured nation."
There's your answer. And Ruto of Kenya, another puppet of the West, taxing locally-made Kenyan goods in order to service the IMF debt. There's your answer. Many of Africa's leaders are handpicked puppets of the Western oligarchs. And as soon as anybody tries to take power that bucks this trend and tries to do something for Africa, they get coup'ed and regime-change-color-revolutioned or vilified (Gaddafi, Mugabe, the current coup leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger), Lumumba, Mubarak...the list goes on. Abiy Ahmed.
Apparently you missed his admission he wanted to see Trump die? What kind of fraud is this guy?
You mean the author of the book? I was not aware of it until the attempted assassination. I saw people pounding him with messages about it. I don’t really follow him, though.
I simply can't tolerate or accept anyone's use of the 'term' Woke or Wokeness or Wokism. It's a trigger word and I don't trust anyone that uses trigger words in or as titles or in speech.
This is why: {Like phrases before it - such as “politically correct”, “social justice warrior” and “cancel culture” - “woke” has become a toxicised term used by alt-right and politically conservative groups to insult people on the left.
“People who are woke simply can’t use the word anymore,” explained Mr Thorne. “It’s been appropriated, co-opted and toxicised by the alt-right and right-wing speakers. Those who are woke can still talk about empathy and compassion and social justice, but I think they’ve had to abandon the neat, snappy slang words and go back to explaining what they really believe.”} clipped this from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woke-meaning-word-history-b1790787.html.
I would add "liberal" to this list as well. Have you run across the 1970s/1980s derision "Bleeding heart liberal" as well as other derisive sentences with "liberal" as it's subject or is it object? (I've forgotten my sentence structure lessons) The corruption of the term worked as intended. Nobody wanted to be known or called a "liberal". Hey, we could have fun listing all the words that were corrupted for political reasons in our lifetimes.
I'm all for explaining in as many words as one needs to say what they want to say. Slang is just slang and not only to me, but a lot of adults who were taught to not use slang and not respect the use of slang.
Ain't that right? S/
Can't wait to read his book. Thank you for this article!
I'll be doing additional book reviews of these types of books periodically. I have one lined up for August.
I contend that this holds true across the entire landscape of oppressed/marginalized groups. Identity Politics is doing a huge disservice to everyone, especially the very real victims of our society's prejudices.
Power is at the heart of most movements
Power and control. For sure
Hi Michael,
Thanks for this super interesting post. My son constantly tries to explain woke-ism to me, and I don't get it. This explainer helped, and maybe I'll read John McWhorter's book.
I wonder if woke-ism's narrow and mean spirited spin on social justice is contributing to the rise in fascism. I've heard people say crappy things about social justice lately, and I wonder if that's what they're basing their comments on.
What surprises me is that people are believing this stuff. Are they intellectually lazy? Or does it just conform so conveniently to the kind of Christianity so many people were raised with -- we're all heathens, the fall, the redemption, the rescuers, etc.
People wanting a better, kinder more habitable world need to get past this stuff that I consider intellectual garbage. It sounds like woke-ism is making a mockery of these important values, and it's important that we don't let it.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with social justice movements. What Woke has turned into is an authoritarian type movement. They operate by intimidation, not by education. It’s tyrannical for the average person working in a university or on social media. The slightest slip and your career can be destroyed. I’ve seen it happen. Groupthink sets and they seek blood.
McWhorter is pretty amazing. Great writer, speaker and a down to earth person to talk to.
Yes. He is speaking from the heart.
Hi Sharon,
I didn't mean that John McWhorter is narrow and mean-spirited. I was referring to woke-ism being that way. I've changed my comment to make that more clear. Sorry if I didn't communicate that well.
I agree completely they want blood!! It’s horrible what they’ve done!
OK then thank you I will do the same!